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Monday, August 20, 2012

Beyoncé is standing in the iconic, wood-lined hall of the United Nations General Assembly. Isn't she beautiful? Such poise. And what an amazing fig... OH MY GOD THE WALLS HAVE COLLAPSED. Seriously, this is like the good bits of Inception. AND NOW BEYONCÉ LITERALLY IS HURTLING THROUGH SPACE and here are a million Beyoncés in an exploding supernova kaleidoscope of Beyoncés.

Why is this happening to me?

Ah... well, it turns out that Beyoncé is raising the profile of the UN's World Humanitarian Day. The global campaign aims to "recognize those who face danger and adversity in order to help others". Accordingly, as Beyoncé's performs at the organisation's New York HQ, a stunning, panoramic video projection shows a few of those people working in war zones and disaster areas to help their fellow man.

The soundtrack is Beyoncé's Diane Warren-penned ballad I Was Here (which was literally rushed onto her album at the very last minute). On its own, the torch song risks sounding vain – "I want to leave my footprints on the sands of time" - but coupled with those images, it becomes a message of sincerity, hope and humanity.

After her performance, Beyoncé put out the following statement: "We all see the headlines and we think, 'What can I really do to help?' World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity for all of us to work together to make a difference. This is our time to leave our mark on the world and show that we were here and we care."

This could easily have been syrupy nonsense but something about the performance and the visuals just clicks. You would be forgiven if you had a tiny tear in your eye by the end...